Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden left in poverty with no pension, healthcare or protection

The US Navy SEAL who personally shot to death former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says he has been neglected by the US government. The poverty-stricken ex-commando is now struggling to feed his family and pay for healthcare.

Despite killing America's most wanted man, the US Navy SEAL referred to only as “the Shooter” has transitioned back to a civilian life plagued by poverty. The Shooter, who remains anonymous, retired from the SEALs in September 2012, thirty-six months before the 20-year requirement for retirement benefits.

And the government makes no exceptions when it comes to retirement benefits – not even for one of the Americans responsible for striking the most crushing blow against al-Qaeda.

“What is [hard] to understand is that a man with hundreds of successful war missions, one of the most decorated combat veterans of our age, who capped his career by terminating bin Laden, has no landing pad in civilian life,” writes Phil Bronstein, Executive Chair of the Center for Investigative Reporting, for Esquire.

Aside from remaining anonymous and therefore lacking recognition from the American public, the US government appears to have forgotten the Shooter’s significance in the raid that killed the most wanted terrorist. Without a pension, healthcare, or any sort of government protection, the Shooter has been left in the dark by the agency he dedicated his life to.

Unsympathetically, he was told to look for a job driving a truck to make enough money to scrape by.

“[SEAL command] told me they could get me a job driving a beer truck in Milwaukee,” the Shooter said. Such a job would be a substantial downgrade from both his status and estimated $54,000 salary as a Navy SEAL.

Left without retirement benefits, the Shooter is now purchasing a private health insurance plan for $486 per month, which provides minimal coverage and fails to cover his chiropractic care.

“My health care for me and my family stopped,” he said. “I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You’re out of service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f*ck yourself.”

The US government provides 18- days of transitional healthcare benefits, but only those who agree to remain on active duty or become a “reservist”. And it will take at least eight months before he can make requests for disability payments. Although the US government put a $25 million bounty on bin Laden, no one has ever collected the money and the Shooter now lives in poverty.

Finding another job is not so easy for the retired SEAL: due to his anonymity, he cannot disclose his work experience to other employers. Even though friends and family members put in recommendations for him with employers they know, they cannot tell anyone that the Shooter was part of SEAL Team 6.

The SEALs struggles contradict the statement US President Barack Obama made on Veteran’s Day about those who serve the country.

“No one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job,” Obama said. “Or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home.”

But the Shooter is fighting – financially, physically and emotionally. With a body full of scars, arthritis, tendonitis, eye damage and blown disks, the SEAL is in desperate need of medical care.

“Is this how America treats its heroes?” Bronstein writes. “The ones President Obama called ‘the best of the best’? The ones Vice-President Biden called ‘the finest warriors in the history of the world?”

And the Shooter is just one of about 1.3 million veterans – about one in 10 – and 0.9 million family members who are currently uninsured, despite their years of service.

“[Bin Laden] crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed. He was dead. I watched him take his last breaths,” the Shooter recalls. “And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I’ve ever done, or the worst thing I’ve ever done?”

The administration considers bin Laden’s death one of its greatest achievements. But for the Shooter, life has become a struggle.

Why would someone retire 3 years before one of the greatest pension plans on earth?

Someone passes the hardest military training and does it for 17 years then stops 3 years before the pension?

Come the fuck on.

Even if he really did retire 3 years early he will have money from books and the movie about killing bid laden. Also a whole network of people in the military/government to get a job. Fuck SEALS make insane money in private contracting jobs.

Why would someone retire 3 years before one of the greatest pension plans on earth?

Someone passes the hardest military training and does it for 17 years then stops 3 years before the pension?

Come the fuck on.

Even if he really did retire 3 years early he will have money from books and the movie about killing bid laden. Also a whole network of people in the military/government to get a job. Fuck SEALS make insane money in private contracting jobs.

Seriously, makes no fucking sense. I don't know anyone that would retire 3 years before retirement and sacrifice all the benefits. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure no SEAL actually took credit for the killing.

What's stranger still is that Allah allows such murderers to run rampant over His followers as if they were mere animals for the slaughter. Why is He punishing his followers with consistent foreign interventions, lower lifespans, and constant follower-on-follower violence (as an example, most Iraqis killed in the last decade have been snuffed by fellow Muslims)?

Honestly, if one believes that deities intervene in world affairs, either Allah does not exist (for otherwise he would presumably assist his followers a bit more) or otherwise does exist but is very sadistic, demanding much of His followers in return for pain and suffering.

(Strictly speaking, these aren't the only explanations, but they certainly sound more reasonable than what will surely be your response: either 'Allah will help us in the future' or 'Allah will reward us in the afterlife.' Neither explains why he is punishing you now, of course. The Christians can at least say that they have been blessed with the varieties of institutions in Western culture that generated science, extreme amounts of wealth, power, and knowledge, etc. Assuming Allah exists and intervenes in human affairs, why is He blessing the Christians so much? Did he have a change of heart after the 1400s?)

lol just read this in local canadian newspaper funny. It's funny how all these so called 'heroes' that are mass murderers are cursed in this life and either end up dead by their own, or commit suicide or end up miserable garbage.

Wasn't there that guy just a few weeks ago who was proudly boasting about killing 300+ people as a sniper and how he would not be questioned by God for it or something and then he got shot himself.

It's funny you are so fucking retarded that you think this story has any truth to it. Navy Seals don't fail at finding jobs and they don't get out with 3 years left from a full pension(One of the greatest retirement plans on this earth). This story is just propaganda it has nothing factual in it and you are a sheep for believing it.

It's funny you are so fucking retarded that you think this story has any truth to it. Navy Seals don't fail at finding jobs and they don't get out with 3 years left from a full pension(One of the greatest retirement plans on this earth). This story is just propaganda it has nothing factual in it and you are a sheep for believing it.

It MIGHT be credible, but the guy in question has to have a serious mental disorder(and he may, who knows).

Whatever the reason may be for him to be leaving the service before obtaining his pension, he could easily get on with any private security group that does overseas work for well over $100k a year.....easy.

Combined with the instant fame that comes with subsequent books and/or movies and the great demand in certain industries for Ex-SEALs, this story is more than likely complete bullshit.

It MIGHT be credible, but the guy in question has to have a serious mental disorder(and he may, who knows).

Whatever the reason may be for him to be leaving the service before obtaining his pension, he could easily get on with any private security group that does overseas work for well over $100k a year.....easy.

Combined with the instant fame that comes with subsequent books and/or movies and the great demand in certain industries for Ex-SEALs, this story is more than likely complete bullshit.

after Kyle , bissonette, Brandon Webb, wasdin, the market is a bit saturated for SEAL books.